Brittian is 26 and is not being picked up by any club as far as I know. Not even close to Harry. Starling looks good but might be nothing more than a storm in a tea cup. It’s easy to play well at hooker behind a great pack. He may turn out to be great but I’m not very confident. 

Starling is a gun. Like Grant they will lead the next batch of top hookers in the game. 

IMO he is better than Grant. His explosive speed is equal to Damien Cook - maybe even faster. He certainly has a more keen eye to attack from dummy half which is the single most important thing I want to see from a hooker.

Run first, pass second. And if you pass, it better be to a player who will do something with it, otherwise, dont fekking pass.

Brittian was good in reserve grade 2019 Grant was even better.
By 2019 every NRL club knew how good Grant and  a lot of other feeder club players were, the Storm have them locked up. Everyone is well aware of the easy options, Grant is worth throwing a lot of money at, I said the same in  2019, but every NRL club thinks that and some of them have deep pockets.

We need to look at options we can sign for 2021 we have some good young players.
The minimum requirement is better than JMK and Katoa, that is a low bar.

Except 90% of the job is to pass. Any hooker that runs from dummy half 3 times in each set will be hooked by the coach. JMK can run, but he can't do it for 80 mins. Grant and Cook are rare in being running hookers who can play 80 mins. Not every running hooker is effective playing 80 mins, JMK is one example.

See.....that's the 80's mentality that I think holds this club back.

The game has changed. You now need to attack from dummy half not from 1 pass out. If there is an opportunity to run it, you should. 

It's real funny coz we tend to do it with our backs running the ball back from our own 10m aftercare kick yet we dont do it up upfield when there are opportunities to break the line and score. 

If you watch the good hookers, they are constantly looking for opportunity and only pass when there is none. 

Are you watching some other sport?

No one said anything about running one out off the dummy half.

Good hookers run when there is sn opportunity, and pass when there is an opportunity, to the right side.
There are 4 parts to the job, running, passing, defence, vision and decision making, all are important.

You persisently take a 1 dimensional view of the game.

Cam Smith and Jake Friend played in a lot of winning sides, neither are running hookers, Bellamy and Robinson must be clueless and lucky.

Dman.... What a signing Ross Barkley has been for Villa

He scored the winning goal this morning in Villa’s win over Leicester City. 

Dman  -Hammers came from 3-0 down to draw 3-3.

Match commentary in  5 millisecond increments including all tatts and hairstyles to come.

Villi - is Dman paying for our soccer jouralism? We are better than typical NRL journos.

No.
I persistently highlight the 1 main deficiency in our game. Fix it and we are a transformed team even with the same personell. 

It would be nice to fix all our problems at once but I dont think we can with the roster we have and the ingrained losing mentality our players have. 

Barrett's first job will be to change the way we play and then overhaul the roster. He can start with the dummy half. It all starts there. 

The one positive in all this is that TB coached Api at both Manly and now Penrith and would have seen first hand how important a cluey dummy half is. Every hooker can tackle. But very few transform their team from average to top. 

I expect TB to first try and get JMK and Katoa to change their game but if that isnt enough I expect him to target a player with attributes I have stated.

The #1 thing with a bullet a DH has to be able to do is what he’ll spend 90% of his time doing - passing off the ground and hitting a moving target on the chest, better still if he can do that to the man 1 or two wide. Cam Smith, Jake Friend and even Andrew Mcullough forged careers doing that better than the rest. And the #2 thing they have to be able to do is defend in the middle for 80 mins, 60 at minimum.

Neither of those is easy and if they can’t do both of those things anything else they can do don’t matter sh.t.

If a running DH was all a team needed than it’d be a simple solution to pick the fastest bloke over 40m at DH and be done with it.

But it ain’t that simple.

This sums it up perfectly. 

Just to add. 

Exactly so a good game manager with vision is need at halfback and/or hooker.

The only player at our club with any hint of potential in that area is Wakeham and he looks 2-3 seasons away from being able to do it consistently (if he ever does).

JMK more than covers the running half game, Katoa has a good pass of the ground but lacks vision and consistency.
Neither guy can do 80 minutes of good defence in the middle that is one reason why we struggle to control the ruck and to shutdown some try scoring opportunities.

Sure we need to improve the attack, but the top sides win the ruck and the top sides stop tries with great scramble.
It is never easy scoring against the Roosters, Storm and Panthers, that is one difference between the top 4 and the rest.

In attack the difference is vision and execution, that starts at dummy half and passing is a big part of it.

Ideally I want a half similar to Reynolds or Cleary, composure and a good kicking game are essential.
In Cotric, Okunbor and Smith we have guys who are real weapons under a high kick and it doesn't matter how you score them.

Get the half, vision, defence and passing from the hooker are complementary, JMK can carve up off the bench at the right time. All players should be able to run and more importantly know when to run.

This isn't rocket science, I'm sure Baz has a handle on what we need. 

I wonder how much strength is in the rumour JAC is coming to the Dogs and if true what position.

Regardless of what we need, what we have in about a month is what we have to run with next season. We can't expect miracles but a reasonable level of improvement individually and as a team is a pass mark.  No use lamenting what we don't have but always be looking to improve roster going forward.
The main thing is Bazz can't resort to looking for excuses like at Manly.  This only gives himself and the team an excuse for poor performance which will be taken as soon as the going gets hard.

Not sure he has any excuses....
Unlike Manly, we had a number of players that finished up this season and more due next. 
We arent hindered by players on big contracts or lengthy ones.
Its an ideal time for a rebuild and he is an ideal coach having recently been part of the Penrith resurgence. 
I just hope HE can change us rather than WE change him...

Don't get me wrong I hope he's a roaring success.  Just that the Manly thing was an unmitigated diaster and there's a world of difference between a head coach and an assistant coach.

Different circumstances and he is better for the run.

Main thing in coaching is if a guy understands the game and can learn from his mistakes.
Next questions are if players like playing for him and if he commands respect.

Respect is easier when the coach is older than the players and ticks the other boxes.

Only real question csn he learn from his mistakes?
I am hoping that the answer is yes, only one way to find out and there was no better option.

Fox would be wing or fullback, worth a gamble at fullback but it is a demanding position.
Has to be happy to play wing if fullback doesn't work out.

He most wants to return to Sydney and make more money. For us he helps put bums on seats no question.
And he can turn a half chance into a try.

Always a gamble splashing the cash, but you have to do it occasionally.

The Storm have been demanding a player as compensation. I wonder who we could offer given JAC's status or has this requirement been waived.

I have seen DWZ tossed up, it might work for all parties.

He's a drawcard coz he can turn a half chance or split ball or intercept into a try from anywhere on the field.

At the moment we cant score length of field tries.

So I agree it's a gamble worth exploring IMO and could just be that kind of draw card player that allows you to secure other talent. 

I dont think you lose by paying him big bucks for 2 or 3 years. He'd have to get injured for full season in order to not get a return. 

Be a good deal for us.  Sell my old Holden and buy a Porsche with proceeds.

JAC at 1 would bring 3 major things we haven’t had at fullback since.... Barba occupied that spot

* Finally someone who’ll run in support
* Speed
* X Factor

There is a 4th major point.... JAC would put his body on the line to stop tries! Something the newsreader will never ever do. 

JAC would be great to watch at our club. But is he a fullback? If we pay big money for him and we are stuck with another winger it would hurt future recruitment. 

On the contrary......
We dont have anyone on big (marquee) money so even if JAC at fullback was unsuccessful* it wouldnt be a huge drain on SC.

* hard to believe he can be any worse than what we have atm

1000% worth the gamble. 

BMoz copped a bad injury at the wrong time.

Get quality players on board and work out the positions later, Hoppa, Meaney, Smith and Averillo can play multiple positions.

There is no substitute for speed. We need to be sure there is enough left in the budget for a good half and hooker.
But run with the full cap now that we can.